Mixed Desires
by Lady Rava
Summary: After the defeat of Darkstar, Lina and Gourry have parted ways with the slayers gang and have gone off in search of a rare treasure. But what will happen when Lina gets fed up with Gourry and decides to go off on her own? L/Z later. *Chapter 2* The plot
1. Baka! Gourry why are you always such a j...

Mixed Desires  
By Lady Rava  
  
  
Lina Inverse had never been surer of anything in her life than this:   
  
Gourry had to go.  
  
It had seemed like a good idea at first; why not travel with the man who had been her bodyguard for so long. Sure, she didn't need one. But he was a friend…and maybe there had been a little something more between them. So, when their little foursome had decided to part ways after the defeat of Darkstar, Lina had figured she might as well stick with Gourry. But if that jellyfish-for-brains made one more comment about her chest size she'd kill him!  
  
"Gourry no baka!"   
  
"Hai?"   
  
"You're reading the map upside down, AGAIN!"  
  
Gourry creased his brow thoughtfully trying to make out something from the scribbles, or what appeared to be scribbles to him on the map. From his point of view he could see some green clumps (trees), followed by two squiggly blue lines intersecting (rivers) and some pointy brown things at the bottom (mountains), which finally led to a large black X at the very bottom of the map.  
  
"Well," he said, ignoring Lina's previous comment. "We started at the big X so now there should be some big brown things ahead." He pointed to the still upside down map to illustrate his point and appeared confused that their were no "pointy brown things in sight", only trees as far as the eye could see.   
  
  
Lina snatched the map away impatiently and flipped it around so it was right side up. "No," she said, "We started here in the forest," she pointed to the trees on the map. "Then we have to cross the river and up further are the mountains, beyond which is the cave with the X, which is where we want to go."  
  
"Why do we want a big X," Gourry asked, eyes clouded with confusion.  
  
"Because that's where the treasure is!"  
  
"Oh…so the treasure's a big X?" he exclaimed eyes lighting up.  
  
Lina facefaulted. "Why do I bother," she muttered to herself. "Gourry!" Lina said, "You really don't remember what I told you about this treasure?"  
  
Gourry appeared to be in deep thought. "…Nope."  
  
Lina facefaulted again. "Look. We are trying to find Aretha's Treasure: only one of the most famous treasures known to man. It is rumored to be able to grant your hearts desires; but, once it grants your wish it disappears, so only one person can have it." She shrugged, "of course no one has ever found it so this is all rumor. But, everybody's heard of it and if someone had actually found the treasure it wouldn't be there anymore. So now I, Lina Inverse: sorcery genius, will find it first and gain wealth and knowledge!"  
  
"But if no one's ever found it how do you know it works?" Gourry asked.  
  
Lina blinked, surprised: Gourry's question was actually intelligent. "It just does okay!" She grumbled.  
  
"Oh." He paused, "what was the treasure again?"  
  
"FIREBALL!"  
  
"Itai…"  
  
Lina stepped past the slightly charred Gourry and examined her map, glancing up every now and then to match the map to the landscape. "Now lets see…this forest is supposed to extend for a while, and then I'll reach a river here." She drew her finger over the map slowly, "Shouldn't take more than a week," she mused.  
  
"Hey Gourry!" She called out to the swordsman, "how much food we got?"  
  
Gourry didn't answer.  
  
"GOURRY!" She growled, "You didn't eat ALL the food did you?! That was MY food!"  
  
At this point Gourry was seriously scared. For one thing Lina had this look in her eyes that promised him a dragonslave if he didn't produce the food in question. Something he couldn't do unless he could magically uneat it. All he could do was hope to appease her…and pray.   
  
"You see I was hungry…"  
  
"Grrr…Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond the blood that flows…"  
  
"Lina, wait!"  
  
"…Buried in the flow of time…"  
  
"Really, I'm sorry, I'll never do it again!"  
  
"In thy great name I pledge myself to the darkness!"  
  
Gourry decided to stop pleading for his life and do the last thing he could: run. He was halfway down the hill they had climbed earlier when he heard Lina's muffled "DRAGON SLAVE" and the explosion that followed. Throwing himself to the ground, he lay still for several moments until he deemed it safe enough to trudge through the newly formed creator to the path where Lina stood waiting, hands on her hips.  
  
"Umm Lina look…" He said once he'd reached her.  
  
"You know what Gourry I've decided," she interrupted, "I think it's time we split up."  
  
"You mean we should go different ways to the treasure and meet there?" He asked.  
  
"No, I mean I think we should travel separately now. I'll go get the treasure and you can do whatever you want."  
  
"But I'm your bodyguard," he interjected, "who will protect you?"  
  
Lina sighed, "I can protect myself! I am a sorceress after all." She flipped her hair arrogantly. "Besides it's time we both move on in our lives, right?"  
  
Gourry looked troubled, "If that's what you think we should do…"  
  
Lina only nodded; the swordsman had really been getting on her nerves lately. For one thing she couldn't have an intelligent conversation with him and that bugged her; plus, he had this ridiculous notion that she needed to be protected and she most certainly did not! But, the food thing had really set her off; now she would have to go all the way back to town to get more and she was hungry now!  
  
"All right…bye Lina," Gourry trudged off looking sad. Lina felt a little bad for what she'd said…but they had been traveling together for so long, enough was enough! Gourry needed to have his own life and let her have her own.   
  
Lina turned and started to walk the way she'd come. It was a little more than a mile back to town, and Lina was hungry now! Despite her growling stomach Lina found herself smiling; she had a freedom she had not had in a long time and she wouldn't even have to share her food! She wondered briefly what her other former traveling companions were doing now but refused to mull on that subject. From now on she could do what she wanted, and what Lina Inverse wanted to do most at that moment was eat. Then maybe she could find a treasure…  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Nani? Zel's after my treasure too?!

Mixed Desires  
Chapter 2  
By Lady Rava  
  
  
"15 gold."  
  
"10!"  
  
"…13, and I won't go any lower."  
  
"You would rip off a cute girl like me?! 10!"  
  
The merchant sweatdropped: the room was filled with supplies, books and more food than an entire army could eat, and she thought he was ripping her off! The food alone was worth 20 gold! He sighed, "…11 gold."  
  
"8!"  
  
"Fine. 10 gold"  
  
"Deal." Lina Inverse smirked flashing a victory sign, her cute expression vanishing from her face to be replaced by her normal greedy expression. Handing the merchant the 10 gold, she gathered her new supplies and left, leaving a bewildered merchant behind.  
  
For once Lina Inverse was strangely cheerful; not only was she finally on her own, but she had enough food to last her till dinnertime. With this pleasant thought in mind, Lina followed the path the led out of town, a cheerful bounce in her step as she contemplated how rich she would soon be. Her new cheerfulness could be partly attributed to the departure of a certain swordsman; not that Lina disliked Gourry, she simply needed a chance to be on her own again, something that hadn't happened since she split up from Naga all those years ago.  
  
Lina grimaced at that thought, the memory of Naga's annoying laugh echoing through her ears and bringing back memories of why she had fled her first partnership. Lina smirked; perhaps Gourry wasn't so bad after all. Turning she stepped off the path that would eventually lead to Atlas City and walked toward the first trees that would signify her entrance into the forest on her map.  
  
Lina sighed softly and reopened her map; this would take a while. The cave was at least a week away, maybe more. She was in the process of tracing her finger over the map when she paused and smiled.  
  
"You might as well come out, she said smirking. "Its not nice to make a cute girl like me wait."  
  
"Very well then," a voice responded and as if on cue several bandits stepped out from behind the trees. "Now then," continued the bandit leader, a menacing dark-haired man, whose clothes where adorned with several chains. "If you know what's best for you you'll give us all your money, unless you want to be hurt little girl."  
  
Lina groaned, "There's that stock dialogue again." She looked up, the feral expression in her eyes vanishing the bandits smirks. "Now this will be fun."  
  
"What the?"  
  
"FIREBALL!"  
  
Lina stepped through the horde of charred bandits, ignoring their groans. Turning, she grinned and flashed a victory sign to the now nearly comatose bandit gang before continuing on her way, leaving the bandits with the sight of liquid flame as her hair blew softly in the wind. "No one can beat the sorcery genius Lina Inverse!" She proclaimed aloud grinning.  
  
***  
  
"Interesting." A female voice drawled having just witnessed the scene from above. "She possesses great skill."  
  
"So you noticed." A male voice replied.  
  
"Of course. Her fireball spell was efficient and powerful enough to do the job without a lot of messy spells."  
  
"True," he replied. "Still that means nothing, a simple fireball spell does not prove she is powerful. I doubt she will be able to break the curse."  
  
"Perhaps. But still we should be cautious, besides that girl is not the only one seeking to unlock the treasure's secrets," she said glancing at another figure less than a mile away.  
  
"You sound like a mortal," he sneered, "Don't concern yourselves with such insignificant things Vrela, no matter who they are they can't beat mazoku. Especially not ones empowered with the curse of Aretha." He laughed aloud at this and vanished, leaving Vrela behind.  
  
Vrela chuckled, "Oh Rythian you are such a fool sometimes," she said. "This time I think you've met your match and that will be all the better for me," she continued gazing down at the redhead below, before vanishing as well.  
  
***  
  
Lina swore, reaching for her sword. She was surrounded by trolls, berserkers and numerous other "fun" forest creatures, and for a "certain" reason, she couldn't use her magic as she had the day before. She sighed and leaped into the throng of monsters, swinging her sword to the right; it was times like this she missed Gourry.  
  
From behind the trees, the figure who had been watching Lina for some time sighed and turned to walk away. "Sorry about this Lina, but I can't have you reaching the treasure before me." It was better this way anyway, the figure rationalized to himself. Lina would only want the treasure for herself, and then there would be no way it could cure him, besides he was positive the sorceress could deal with simple beasts.  
  
'But then why is she using her sword instead of her magic?' An inner voice questioned him.  
  
"Shut up," Zelgadis mumbled to himself, trying to ignore the nagging feeling in his heart that urged him to go back. Perhaps traveling with Lina all those years had made him go soft, he had to remember that his cure was his first priority. 'Is it really?' His ever-annoying inner voice asked him, 'did you forget the reason you pursue your cure so actively?'  
  
Now that was a thought he quickly squelched, thoughts like that would make him weak. Still, he had enjoyed traveling with Li…that is with the slayers gang. However, none of that was important. All that mattered to him was that he couldn't let Lina get to the treasure before him.   
  
So, when he heard her scream he did not weaken his resolve. He would keep going; he was not going to help her no matter what danger she was in, he was…turning around and running back towards her.  
  
Apparently his resolve wasn't as strong as he thought.  
  
"RA TILT!" He screamed throwing the spell towards the horde of monsters.  
  
"ZEL?!" Lina said surprised.  
  
"Get down!" He shouted, pushing Lina down as his spell ripped through the astral forms of the creatures, leaving their physical bodies little more than charred husks. Zelgadis stood and brushed himself off, a grimace crossing his face as he noticed the pungent smell of the corpses' remains.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Lina asked him once she had regained her composure.  
  
Zelgadis simply looked at her, debating on whether he should answer truthfully. "It's none of your concern," he said finally.  
  
"Of course it is!" She snapped annoyed, "I'm your friend!"  
  
Zelgadis almost smirked, "you might not think that once you find out what I'm here for." No, Lina would not be happy at his searching for Aretha's Treasure at all.  
  
"Why would I think that?" She paused realization dawning on her, "You're after my treasure aren't you?!"  
  
Zelgadis sweatdropped. "I wouldn't call it your treasure," he mumbled.  
  
Lina blinked, "What do you mean, I heard of it first!"  
  
"…Lina, Aretha's Treasure has been around for centuries, you're not the first one to go looking for it."  
  
"I know that!" She snapped, "but still, none of the others were the genius sorceress Lina Inverse! (Insert wink and victory sign) I will find it where others have failed!"  
  
"Actually you won't; that treasure may be my cure, I can't let you have it."  
  
"You're still looking for that?! It's not like you need it."  
  
Zelgadis facefaulted, "Of course I'm still looking for it, I'm still a hideous monster aren't I?"  
  
Lina whapped him on the head (she instantly regretted this), "For the last time you are not hideous or a monster!" Actually she thought he was quite attractive. She quickly ducked her head to hide the blush that her thoughts had provoked.  
  
Zelgadis sighed, Lina didn't have to lie to him because she was his friend; it was obvious he was a monster. "Nevertheless, I will find it."  
  
"Alright then," she said, making a decision. "We'll just have to work together to find the treasure!"  
  
"I don't think that will work…"  
  
"Of course it will," she said, "that way we can both have the treasure!"  
  
"It doesn't exactly work that way," he said.  
  
Lina switched tactics. "You would leave a pretty girl like me defenseless?" She said, opening her eyes wide in her best "cute" expression.  
  
Zelgadis swallowed the lump in his throat, trying to keep his face expressionless so Lina wouldn't see the effect she had on him. "I suppose you could come with me," he relented finally.  
  
"Victory!" Lina said grinning. "On we go!" She turned and strode off, a cheerful bounce in her walk.  
  
Zelgadis followed, the corners of his mouth twitching upward into a smile.  
  
  
  



End file.
